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i 

t SPEECH 



ANDREW STEWART, OE PENN., 



PRESIDENTIAL QUESTION ; 



DELIVERED 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, 

s i 



June 26 , ] 848. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY J. & G. S. GIDEON, 

1848. 



SPEECH. 



Mr. STEWART, in rising, said he did not propose to answer the remarks 
just made by the gentleman from Mississippi, (Mr. Featherston,) upon the 
subject of slavery — a subject on which he never had made, and perhaps never 
would make, a speech on this floor. Slavery was an evil, and an evil we could 
not remedy, in that portion of the country where it existed; but it was an evil 
which he was opposed to extending to any country or territory now free. He 
thought the discussion of this question had the tendency to give rise to "geo- 
graphical lines," which would divide the great parties of the country, and nnght 
in the end subvert our happy Union. He regretted the drawing of such lines; 
he thought them dangerous to the harmony and perhaps the integrity of this 
great confederacy. They were divisions against Avhich we were warned by 
Washington, the Father of his Country, in his Farewell Address to the people 
of the United States; whose voice he could never hear with indifference, and 
to whose warnings he trusted the people of this country would never turn a 
deaf ear. 

There had, however, been introduced into the present discussion another 
great question— the Presidential question; a question which he regarded at this 
time as more important than any question of the kind which had ever been pre- 
sented for the decision of the American people,, involving momentous conse- 
quences to the welfare of the country, present and prospective. It involved 
this question, among others: Whether, under the Government as it was now 
administered, all power was to be concentered in the hands of one mem, or whe- 
ther, under other auspices, under the administration of another illustrious man, 
whose name was before the country, we were to be brought back to the purer 
and better principles and policy of the fathers of the Republic? It was a ques- 
tion whether all power — the power of the purse and sword, the power of peace 
and war— was to be exercised by the President; whether, with the veto power 
in his hands, exercising legislative as well as executive power, he was to be- 
come supreme in this country, more arbitrary and despotic than any crowned 
■head in Europe, save Nicholas of Russia, and Congress and the people were to 
dwindle into perfect insignificance; or whether, under the policy of that other 
great and good man, Gen. Taylor, the people and Congress were to be restored 
to their legitimate powers, just rights, and proper influence; whether the voice 
of the people was to be heard and treated with respect, or whether we were 
to be controlled and governed by "one man;" whether the country was to con- 
tinue, as now, to be governed by party and /or party; or whether, under Gen- 
eral Taylor, it was to be governed once more by the people and for the people: 
whether the policy of the Government was to continue to be dictated andprescrib- 
ed every four years by an irresponsible cabal of unprincipled caucusites at Balti- 
more; whether, at their behest, the great and essential powers of self-protection 
and self-improvement were to be surrendered and given up; whether, with a 
vast standing army and navy, our expenditures were to be doubled, and the. 
people here, as in Europe, crushed under an enormous weight of debt and tax- 
ation, and the Government thus changed, in fact, if not in form, from a Repub- 
lic to a despotism! These, sir, in my apprehension, are some of the great issues 
to be decided by the people at the approaching Presidential contest; and so re- 
garding it, I cannot but feel myself called on by every motive of duty and pa- 
triotism to exert myself to the full extent of my very humble ability, "by every 
fair and honorable means, to bring this contest to an auspicious result 



Was it to be tolerated that, when across the waters, in Europe, the old world' 
was engaged in putting down the "one-man power," we were to be putting it 
up here, by giving all power to the Executive; and that, whilst Europe was 
engaged in building up and establishing republics, we were to be employed in 
tearing down our neighboring republics of the South? He trusted that we should 
take a different course; that, under the auspices of that illustrious man whom 
the Whig party had presented to the country, we should give an example to 
the world, not of war and of conquest, but of peace — of a people united, pros- 
perous, peaceful, happy. That was the example we owed to the world, and 
that was the example which we would soon set to the world under a different 
Administration from this. But going on, as we now were, under the lead of 
the "one-man power party,"' we must soon become a warlike people, going on 
conquering and to conquer. Not only Yucatan and Cuba, but Canada too, and 
all other territories we should happen to fix our avaricious eye upon, must be 
conquered and "swallowed" under the great chieftain whom the Progressive 
Democracy had selected as their leader. 

Was this to be the policy which was to be sustained by the people? No, sir. 
No! A different result was approaching; the misnamed Democracy had selected 
a leader, and so had the Whigs: the former a general that always surrenders, 
the latter a general that "never surrenders." Under such leaders could the re- 
sult be doubted? No, it was certain; the contest had in fact been given up. 
The Union, the "organ" of the Administration, Father Ritchie himself, had 
given it up. What did the Union tell us ? It headed a recent article with 
" Will the people endure the cheat ?" Mr. Ritchie went on through half a col- 
umn telling how they were cheated by the Whigs; and in other columns it 
was cheated, cheated, cheated ! Now, he would like to know what man or 
party ever cried "cheated" that was hot beaten? "Cheat" meant "beat." 
In 1840, when the Whigs beat the Locos, they cried out "cheated;" in 1844. 
when the Locos beat, that was the cry of the Whigs; and so when the Union 
cried "cheated," it admitted they were beaten. "Cheated" was the language 
of the loser, never of the winner. But Mr. Ritchie had one hope left, and it 
is this, he says he still hopes that "the best part of the Whigs — the honest 
Whigs — would be able to proclaim and effect a dissolution of the Whig party." 
"Best and honest Whigs;" this must be very flattering to the anti-Taylor 
Whigs, coming as it does from Polk's organ. Best! No, sir, they are the worst, 
the very worst. They are traitors, locofocos in disguise; but let them go over 
to the enemy; we can do better without than with them. As Taylor, said of 
the deserters "drum them out, they belong not to the American Army." 

But prudence is the better part of valor. Mr. Ritchie will not wait to be 
shot; he surrenders in time. He knows Old Zack and Capt. Bragg are sharp- 
shooters, and he no doubt feels a little like Crockett's coon, who from the top 
of a tree seeing a well-known marksman raising his unerring rifle, said: "Is 
that you Capt. Scott? If it is, don't shoot ; P 11 come down.'''' So savs Mr. 
Ritchie: "Is that you, Old Zack? If it is, don't shoot; I'll come down." 
(Much laughter.) 

But, to make bad worse, the next day after this candid confession and sur- 
render, out comes his old friend Van Buren against Mr. Cass. Horrible — 
"et tu Brute!" This rendered the old gentleman quite frantic, and in his next 
paper we may expect to see him address Mr. Poik in the language of a certain 
celebrated song, lately applied to a distinguished Senator from New York: 
" carry me back to Old Virginny." (Laughter.) 
Mr. Stewart then proceeded to read from one of the articles referred to in 
the Union, in which it was said that it was unfair for the Whigs to take Tay- 
lor. If they had taken Clay, Webster, Scott, McLean, or any other known 
Whig, he would have been satisfied ; but they had selected Old Zack, a "no- 



party man," and they (the Democracy) could not keep their men in the ranks ; 
that they would not stand fire ; that, like the Mexicans, they were not only retreat- 
ing, but going over to Taylor, in companies and regiments ; that they had not 
only Barnburners in the North, but Barnburners in the South : the Van Buren 
men and the Yancey men, the " Alabama Platform men" and the " New York 
Platform men ;" North, South, East, and West, their men were " bolting," 
bolting, bolting. Now, this Mr. Ritchie said was not fair ; " it was a palpable 
cheat ;" the Whigs ought to have nominated Mr. Clay — a man they had often 
defeated, and could, he supposed, defeat again. This would have been fair ; 
but to take up " Old Zack," a no-party man, the very man who had fought 
their battles and gained their victories, and saved their Administration from 
infamy and disgrace, how could the Whigs vote for him ? Democrats could do 
so with propriety. Yes, (said Mr. S.,) and that is exactly what they are go- 
ing to do. Democrats would vote for him, because he was an honest, true, 
patriotic, faithful old man, who had risked his life in fighting the battles of the 
country. The honest, unsophisticated people, not the politicians, but the pa- 
triotic people of the country, felt and said, " We owe Old Zack a debt of grati- 
tude, and we are not like Mr. Polk, General Cass, and the party in this House, 
who pay him with kicks and cuffs ; we are honest men ; we will pay our honest 
debts ; we have no money, but we will pay him in paper ; we have a little bit 
of a ticket, which we will deposite at the polls for him in November next. 
We don't care what you say, Mr. Ritchie, or what you politicians say to the 
contrary; he has served his country long and faithfully; and we are going to 
thank him, and that, too, without Mr. Cass's disgraceful proviso, censuring in- 
stead of thanking him for his glorious victory at Monterey." You might as 
well try to stop the mighty Mississippi in her march to the ocean, as stop these 
people from voting for " Old Zack;" he is honest, and they are honest; he is 
rough, and they are rough ; he is always ready to do his duty, and so are they; 
with all his honors and all his glories he is not lifted up ; he is not above a com- 
mon man ; the people know him by his acts ; they love him, they will vote for 
him; they must, they can't help it; he is an honest and pure man. The Gov- 
ernment has basely attempted to destroy him, and the people know it. But 
their machinations against him have failed, signally failed. God protects the 
virtuous and the good. Heaven is just. The very means resorted to by this 
Administration and its tools to destroy General Taylor, by robbing him of his 
men at Buena Vista, and put him, as they thought, completely in the power of 
Santa Anna, was made by a just Providence the means of elevating him over 
them — ot putting them down and putting him up, and will give him another 
opportunity of displaying his characteristic magnanimity and forbearance to- 
wards his fallen foes. 

Sir, we have been repeatedly told during this debate that the Democrats in 
their Convention at Baltimore had laid down a platform, and they complained 
that the Whigs had adopted no platform whatever. But he would tell gentle- 
men the Whigs had a platform, and they had it in General Taylor's Allison 
letter of the 22d April : and he would proudly contrast that broad, noble, Ame- 
rican platform, with the narrow, contracted, party platform adopted at Balti- 
more. Contrast, sir, these platforms. Ours, like its author, great and national ; 
theirs strictly in character — a miserable party concern. How did Mr. Steven- 
son, the President of the Baltimore Convention, himself characterize this plat- 
form in his letter conveying to General Cass the notice of his nomination ? He 
said : " The platform we present you is broad enough to hold all Democrats, 
but narrow enough to exclude all others." It was broad enough for the Loco- 
focos ; broad enough for the party ; it was a party platform, and nothing else, 
and so represented and so accepted by General Cass, who pledged himself to 
carry it out. But look at Old Zack's platform ; it was broad enough for the 



6 i 

whole country. He nobly says : I go for the whole country — for the whole 
people ; I give no pledges ; I make no bargains ; I submit to no party dicta- 
tion ; if elected, I will administer the Government for the benefit of the whole 
American people. And, sir, if he could be induced to come down from that high, 
noble, patriotic, and national platform, to this contracted, degraded, miserable 
platform of party, he would sink, greatly sink in my esteem, and would justly 
forfeit the support of thousands and tens of thousands of the patriotic and hon- 
est men of all parties, who were now rallying to his standard. No ; General 
Taylor would never come down to such a miserable narrow platform of party 
as that laid down by the Baltimore Convention, but would honestly and faith- 
fully administer the Government for the benefit of the whole people, and ac- 
cording to the principles of the Constitution, as construed and administered by 
the early Presidents of the Republic. The first thing they put forth in the Bal- 
timore platform was "Democracy" — they had the NAME without one of the 
principles. General Cass, and the whole of them, talk about " JefFersonian 
Democracy ;" and, while they talked about Democracy and about Thomas Jef- 
ferson, while they retained the name, they repudiated and trampled under foot 
every principle of Jefferson, every principle adopted and practised upon by 
all the early Presidents — every one of them, without an exception ; they preach 
one thing and practise the opposite. Their democracy JefFersonian ! Why, 
sir, they go for the veto power, the great conservative power of putting down. 
the will of the people, and putting up the will of the President; this one-man, 
power, the veto, which, as had beeri well said, was intended as "the extreme 
medicine of the Constitution," had now become the daily bread of the Presi- 
dent. Thomas Jefferson and his illustrious compeers never exercised the veto; 
he never exercised it in a single instance in the eight years of his Administra- 
tion. During the first twenty years of the administration of this Government 
there never was a veto, except in one or two unimportant cases by Gen. Wash- 
ington ; but vetoes, vetoes, vetoes, had now become the order of the day. 
We were now governed by vetoes, and nothing but vetoes. At the last ses- 
sion Congress passed the River and Harbor bill, and sent it to the President, 
who, afraid to veto it, put it in his breeches pocket ; but, at this session, he 
sent it back with his reasons against it, and this House had voted down those 
reasons by a vote of 138 to 54 — a vote of thirty more than two-thirds ! And 
yet it was no law ; it was defeated by the will of one man. In England the 
King, who possessed the veto power, had not dared to exercise it for several 
hundred years; there some respect was paid to the will of the people; when 
the House of Commons vote against the ministry, they resign ; here, instead 
of resigning, the King vetoes the popular will, and this was the power General 
Cass and his party advocated. 

What was General Taylor's position in this respect ? He held, like a true 
republican, that with regard to questions of domestic policy "the will of the 
people, as expressed through their Representatives in Congress, ought to be re- 
spected and carried out by the Executive." This was the doctrine of General 
Taylor-^that it was with the people, the democratic people, to govern them- 
selves. Yet, although General Cass and his party in practice sustained and 
applauded this despotic power of " one man" to defeat the will of the people's 
Representatives fairly expressed, they talked about "Democracy," while they 
were riveting chains on the people : they talked about the beauties of economy, 
while they were doubling and trebling the expenses of Government; they talk- 
ed loudly about the capability of the people for self-government, and Mr. Cass 
undertook to say — hear him in his own words, " The very first article in the 
Democratic creed teaches that the people* are competent to govern them- 
selves" — " here is the starting point of the difference between the two great 
parties that divide the country; all other differences are but subordinate and 



auxiliary to this, and may in fact be resolved into it" — this, too, was part of 
the Baltimore platform. "The people competent to govern themselves 3" 
thus would they natter and betray ; this was the policy of all usurpers — 
first flatter the people, then betray them. The President, not the people, 
ought to be sovereign; that was progressive Democracy; the President with 
one-third of either House ought to have the power to defeat the will of two- 
thirds of the people and their Representatives. Oh, yes ! good people, you 
are perfectly "competent to govern yourselves" — but to save you from sui- 
cide you must allow us to tie your hands; you must submit to the veto power — 
the government of one man. This is Democracy— progressive Democracy, 
which means Aristocracy first, and Monarchy next; their professions were di- 
rectly contradicted by their practice ; they practically denied the competency 
of the people for self-government by the arbitrary exercise of the veto power. 
What did this " platform" further say ? That this veto power had saved the 
people from a "system of internal improvements." That it had saved the 
people — from what ? From themselves ; from carrying out their own legisla- 
tion ; from using their own money for their own benefit — for the improvement 
of their own country. They (the President and party) could make war, take 
$60,000,000 a year into Mexico; they could go all over the world and spend 
the money of the people, but they would suffer no part of the money to be ex- 
pended under the direction of the people's Representatives. They denied the 
power to Congress to spend the people's money for the people's benefit in the 
improvement of their country, but claimed and freely exercised the power to 
oppress, tax, and burden the people. That was the practical construction 
which this party placed upon the Constitution— that the veto was to save the 
people from themselves ; and yet in their platform ihey said that " the people's 
money ought to be carefully guarded for the people's benefit." A small mis- 
take—they should have said " the partes benefit— a variation merely of theory 
from practice ; for, while they talked about guarding the people's money for 
the people's benefit, they were actually applying it to the benefit of them- 
selves ; and while they said that they were opposed to legislating for " the 
benefit of the few at the expense of the many," yet this was precisely what 
they were doing. They were legislating the money from the people's pockets 
into their own ; legislating entirely for the benefit of the few at the expense of 
the many. Their whole system, in the very face and eyes of their theory, 
was to enrich the few at the expense of the many ; and this he would soon 
show was a game well understood by their great leader, General Cass himself. 

They talked about "economy," and preached it in their platform. They 
were great economists — the true Thomas Jefferson economists; while, as he 
had stated, they proscribed and trampled under foot every pne of his prin- 
ciples. Thomas Jefferson was the enemy of a national debt. Look at our 
national debt now, created by this Administration. Mr. Adams admin- 
istered the Government for twelve and a half millions a year, on the average 
of his whole term, [this sum covering the entire expenses of his Administra- 
tion, except what was applied to the public debt. Mr. Adams was denounced 
and put out for his extravagance. Mr. Van Buren came in— this lover of eco- 
nomy, this admirer of Thomas Jefferson — and the expenses of the Government 
during his Administration ran up to twenty-eight and a half millions, instead ot 
twelve and a half. Gentlemen smiled ; he defied them to deny it ; he chal- 
lenged them to the records. They might promise to answer, as they had done 
before, but they would never do it ; never, because they could not ; the least 
said the better.' 

Mr. Thompson, of Mississippi, (Mr. S. yielding the floor with some hesita- 
tion for one question,) asked v if the gentleman did not now stand side by side 
with Mr. Van Buren? 



8 

Mr. Stewart. What! I side by side with Martin Van Buren? [A laugh.] 
Thank God, I have nothing to do with Martin Van Buren, and never will have. 
I would ask, if the gentleman himself, who was formerly so ardent a supporter 
of Mr. Van Buren, was for Mr. Van Buren now? Was he now his candidate? 
Was he for Van Buren or Cass? 

Mr. Thompson's reply was not heard. 

Mr. Stewart continued. He said the expenses of the Government had now 
run up under Mr. Polk to $60,000,000 a year. They had increased from 
$12,500,000, under Mr. Adams, to $28,500,000 under Mr. Van Buren, and 
now to $50,000,000 or $60,000,000 under the present "economical" Admin- 
istration! This was their boasted Jeffersonian "economy;" this was their op- 
position to a "national debt." Why, they had done nothing but make national 
debts. Mr. Van Buren had found some $40,000,000 surplus in the Treasury; 
he had left some $40,000,000 of national debt, after selling seven or eight mil- 
lions of bank stock. Mr. Polk had found some $17,000,000 of debt, and had 
or would run it up to one hundred millions of dollars, or over! This was "Demo- 
cratic" consistency! The people would mark it at the next election. Thomas 
Jefferson was opposed to a standing army, to a great navy; yet the gentleman 
from North Carolina, (Mr. McKay,) had told the House that the appropriations 
for the naval service had run up within a few years from $3,000,000 to 
$11,000,000! And this under this beautiful Jeffersonian Administration, which 
went by the rule of contrary, looking one way and rowing the other. 

He always thought Mr. Jefferson was the friend of peace. What was Gen. 
Cass? For war, war, war! First with England; he was for "fifty -four forty 
or fight;" then he' was for Mexico; for "swallowing" (to use. his own language) 
the whole of Mexico; next for Yucatan and Cuba; and then he might be for 
Canada. Now, here was the practice of the gentlemen over the way, and of 
their leader, who talked so loudly about Mr. Jefferson's principles! Jefferson 
considered war a barbarism. In this enlightened age and country, it was an 
absurdity, a crime, and it was so considered by Gen. Taylor, who pronounced 
"war, at all times, and under all circumstances, a national calamity." 

But a little more of the history of General Cass. He had been on all sides 
of all questions. There was not a question of public policy of the country upon 
which General Cass had not occupied a position on both sides. Once a Feder- 
alist, now a "Democrat;" when the question of the annexation of Texas first 
came up he was decidedly opposed to it; when it was said the British were 
going to take Texas, "let them have it," said he, "we do not want it." But 
a little before the nomination, on the 10th of May, 1844, he wrote a letter to 
Mr. Hannegan, in which he was for immediate annexation, and for slavery too. 
He was against annexation and for annexation; against the proviso and for the 
proviso; against protection and for protection; against internal improvements 
and for internal improvements; he was the great eulogist of Louis Phillippe when 
in power, and the very first to mount the rostrum in this city and denounce 
him when he fell. With reference to the Wilmot proviso, General Cass was 
decidedly for it at first; he was a great proviso man; and then at the next ses- 
sion of Congress, when he found it would not do for a certain section, he 
turned against the proviso, and in his letter to Mr. Nicholson said "a change 
has been going on in my mind;" and when the slaveholders demanded to be 
allowed to carry their slaves to new territory, he says in this letter it would 
greatly improve the comfort and condition of the slaves if they were scattered 
over more territory, and he was now a great slavery man; and the gentleman 
from Mississippi, (Mr. Featherston,) had just said he was pledged to veto the 
Wilmot proviso. He was once for a protective tariff, but now opposed to all 
protection. The time was when General Cass voted for internal improvements; 
but he wrote an answer to a letter of invitation to attend the Chicago conven- 



tion in his neighborhood — a letter of four lines, stating that he could not attend; 
and at Cleveland the other day, when asked for his opinions on internal im- 
provements and the proviso, he said there was such a crowd he was afraid he 
could not be heard on these subjects, and therefore spoke on others. Now, the Bal- 
timore Convention declared that internal improvements were unconstitutional, 
and General Cass said — Amen; he agreed to every word in that platform. He 
was a man who had been on all sides of all questions; a man of no principle, 
no consistency, but a time-serving, vacillating, weather-cock candidate, and 
that had secured his nomination for the Presidency. But he (Mr. S.) thought 
his party now felt very much as Father Ritchie, did — very much like giving it 
up. Had the Whig candidate ever vacillated, ever changed his position, his 
principles? No. They were laid down in the Allison letter, and were fixed as 
the everlasting hills, having their foundation injustice and truth, based on the 
Constitution of the country, and upon popular rights; the emanations of a sound 
head and a pure heart, it was impossible that they could be wrong, or could 
change. The two candidates differed in this: the one, governed by the rule of 
right, was never wrong; the other, governed by the rule of expediency, was 
rarely ever right. 

General Cass was once a great lover of the volunteers. He was a volunteer 
himself, and was sometimes called the "old volunteer." But now — it was on 
the records of Congress, and there was no escape from it — he put it to gentle- 
men on the other side of the House that, at this session of Congress, on De- 
cember 29th, in the Senate of the United States, General Cass introduced a 
bill reducing the pay of the volunteers for commutation for their clothing one-third. 

Mr. Wick interposed; but 

Mr. Stewart declined to yield the floor, as his hour was fast running away. 
He would show gentlemen the bill; here it was, as it appeared on the records 
of the Senate: 

"In the Senate of the United States, December 29, 1847. 

"Mr. Cass, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported the following bill, which was 

read and passed : 

"A Bill to provide clothing for volunteers in the service of the United States. 
"Be it enacted, Sfc, That, in lieu of the money which under existing laws is allowed to volun- 
teers as a commutation for clothing, the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause the 
volunteers to be furnished with clothing, in kind, at the same rates, according to grades, as is 
provided for the troops of the regular army." 

The bill provided "that, in lieu of the money," "clothing in kind" be fur- 
nished to the volunteers at the same rates, according to grade, as was provided 
for the regular army. Now, here was a letter which he had received from the 
Adjutant General, stating what the allowance to the regulars was: 

" Adjutant General's Office, Washington, June 16, 1848. 
" Sir : In reply to your inquiry of the 15th instant, I respectfully inform you that the average 
allowance of clothing per month to soldiers of the regular army is about $2 35. I enclose here- 
with a copy of "General Order No. 10," current series, in which you will find specified the arti- 
cles of clothing, and their valae, for each year of the term of enlistment. 

" Respectfully, R. JONES, Adjutant General, 

"To the Hon. A. Stewart, House of Representatives, Washington.' 1 ' 1 

This $2 35 was to all grades — dragoens, artillery -men, &c. ; but, by examina- 
tion of the " general orders" referred to by the Adjutant General, he found 
that the whole amount of clothing for infantry for five years was $114 55%, 
which by computation, it would be seen, gave $1 91 per month to the infantry, 
and no more. Thus it appeared that this bill of Gen. Cass reduced the allow- 
ance to infantry volunteers for clothing from $3 50, allowed by the act of 1846, 
to $1 91, the amount allowed to the infantry of the regular army. The 
" Union," it was true, and Mr. Cameron, said the volunteers could have their 
■ option ; but the language of the bill was express ; nobody could mistake it ; it 
was that this " clothing in kind" should be furnished " in lieu- of the money 



10 

which under existing laws is allowed." Now, could you find any option there?' 
The bill provided that clothing, which cost $1 91 per month, should be fur- 
nished in lieu of the $3 50 allowed under previous laws. 

Mr. McClelland interposed, and was understood to speak of the construc- 
tion put upon the law by the Adjutant General ; but what he said was not 
caught by the Reporter. 

Mr. Stewart said he cared not what construction the Adjutant General had 
been induced to give the law by Gen. Cass or any body else ; there was the 
law as it was reported by Gen. Cass, and as it passed. He knew it was said 
that Gen. Cass had seen the Adjutant General and got him or the President to 
nullify by construction, or veto the law ex post facto ; he might have found it 
would not do to strip the volunteers of their clothing ; hanging and burning in 
effigy might have been unpleasant ; and the Adjutant General might have been 
induced lately, (some six or seven weeks ago,) too late, to construe this law of 
General Cass directly contrary to its provisions. But there was the law as in- 
troduced by General Cass and passed, which expressly provided for this change, 
and that the $1 91, " clothing in kind," should be furnished "in lieu" of the 
amount previously allowed, which was $3 50. If it was intended to give them 
their election, as is now pretended, why did not Gen. Cass say so in his bill ; 
why not say that the volunteers should be allowed to draw $1 91, the amount 
of clothing allowed to regulars, which should be deducted out of the $3 50 to 
which they were entitled, and not as the law declares " in lieu" of the $3 50?- 
The $1 91 was not to be in part, but in full. The law was too plain. Inge- 
nuity could not mystify it. It was not only outrageously unjust, but it was 
clearly unconstitutional and void. What right had Gen. Cass to report and 
pass a law " impairing the obligation of contracts." The Government had con- 
tracted to pay the volunteers $8 per month and $3 50 for clothing ; the volun- 
teers had agreed to take it, and had gone to Mexico. What right, then, had 
Gen. Cass to reduce their pay one-third ? If he could constitutionally take 
away one-third, he could take away the whole. No; the law was unjust; it was 
unconstitutional and void; and, when opposed and spurned, and its author hung 
in effigy, it was abandoned and given up. But we are asked how this bill came 
to pass both Houses without opposition ? He answered, because no one knew 
the amount received by the regulars; this was fixed by an army order; and, 
it being stated that it was a bill " for the benefit of the volunteers," it passed 
at once without inquiry or opposition. Such is the brief history of this shame- 
ful and unjust law. What would the volunteers, the people, say to the man 
who would take $30 per day whilst enjoying all the luxuries of civilized life, 
and who would rob the honest and brave volunteer of one-third of his pittance 
of $3 50 per month for clothing ? Not enough to purchase a hat or pair of 
boots. Would Old Zack have done this ? No, sir ; he would have given his 
hat and shoes both to an old soldier, rather than take a single cent from him, . 
justly or unjustly. 

And there was another thing to which he wished to call the especial atten- 
tion of gentlemen. Gen. Cass was said to be a friend to economy. He was a 
very great economist. He takes especial care of the people's money — espe- 
cially when he gets it in his own pocket. [Laughter.] He had some proofs 
on this subject to which he would refer the committee, and he called upon 
gentlemen to examine the official documents which he should produce. Gen- 
eral Cass, it was known, was once Governor of Michigan and ex-officio Super- 
intendent of Indian Affairs, appointed under a special Id. w, with a fixed salary 
of $2,000 per annum. He was appointed Governor, and was ex-officio Super- 
intendent of Indian Affairs just as the President of the United States is President 
and ex-officio Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy; and he would ask 
gentlemen had the one any more right to extra pay than the other ? But 



13 

Governor Cass not only drew his salary while he held that office, between 
seventeen and eighteen years, but he charged extra compensation while draw- 
ing his salary of $2,000 per annum, amounting to the enormous sum of $60,- 
412 over and above his salary. He would read to the committee some of the 
items to show what the character of these charges were, which he had derived 
from official and authentic sources, and which could not, and he presumed 
would not, be controverted on this floor : 

Extra charges by Governor Cass as Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, over ami above his 
regular salary, as per document No. 224, 1839, 3d session, '25th Conp-ess, page 2. 

From October 9, 1813, to May 29, 1822, (9 years,) ten rations per day, (20 cents 

each) $6,610 

From October 9, 1813, to July 31, 1831, $1,500 per annum, extra salary. ........ 26,715 

$33,325 
falsely said to be allowed by Mr. Calhoun six years after he was out of office. 
Document No. 112, same session, page 15, partly embraced in subsequent accounts 4,750 
55 days, at $8 per diem, travelling expenses, 40 cents per mile, in concluding trea- 
ties at Greenville, 1814, St. Mary's, (1818,) Saginaw and SaultdeSt. Marie, and 
making arrangements with the Wyandots. &c, from 1817 to 1820, as per docu- 
ment No. 6, 3d session, 27th Congress, pages ll and 12, (being extra compen- 
sation,) 50 days preparing before and after treaty 2,476 

Per diem, 52 days, mileage, &c. ($8 per day and 40 cents per mile) at the treaty of 

Chicago, in 1821 696 

For attendance at Washington in 1821-'22 (208 days) to settle his own accounts, 

and mileage, -(10 rations per day,) and $1,032 travelling expenses 1,448 

Extra services as commissioner to treat with the Indians at Wapaghkonetta, and 
at Prairie du Chien, in 1825, 29 days, daily pay and mileage, $356, taking 

treaty to Washington $2,092 2,448 

Similar services in Indiana in 1826, 46 days 552 

Similar services in Fond du Lac in 1826, 65 days 1,360 

Similar services at Butte des Mortes in 1827, 60 days 960 

Similar services at Green Bay in 1828, 66 days 1,112 

Similar services at St. Joseph's in 1827, 10 days 240 

Services and expenses in Washington city, in 1828, preparing a code for the regu- 
lation of Indian Affairs, and mileage, 111 days 1,520 

Services for superintending Indian agencies at Piqua, Fort Wayne, and Chicago, 

for the years 1822- , 3-'4- , 5-'6- 1 7- , 8, at $1,500 per annum 10,500 

Similar services, same agencies, 1829-'30, and part of 1831, at $1,500 per annum 3,875 

Total extra charges $60,412 

It would appear from this statement, made from documents specially referred 
to, (and which, if wrong, can be corrected by Gen. Cass's friends,) that he 
charged and received pay four times for the same period of time : 
1st. His regular salary as governor and ex officio superintendent of Indian Affairs 

of the Territory of Michigan, $2,000 per annum for about 18 years $36,000 

2d. Fifteen hundred per annum extra salary from 1813 to J831, nearly 18 years, 

paid in 1 831 ". 26,715 

Rations- — ten rations per day at 20 cents each for between nine and ten years. . . . 6,610 

3d. Fifteen hundred dollars per annum extra salary from 1821 to 1831, about ten 

years, beingpart of the above 18 years 14,375 

4th. Specific charges for 772 days of the above time, at $8 per day and 40 cents 
mileage, in attending at Indian treaties, at Washington to settle his own accounts, 
and for extra pay as above, preparing an Indian code, &c, being upwards of 
$16 per day for the time specified above 12,712 

Total $96,412 

This last charge, with his three salaries, one fixed at $2,000, and two extra 
salaries of $1,500 each, would make his pay for this period amount to $11,- 
355 per annum — more than $31 per day, Sundays and all, exclusive of his 
rations, taken from the pockets of the tax -paying people of the United States 
by Gen. Cass for his services as governor and superintendent of Indian affairs 
for the Territory of Michigan, at a fixed salary of $2,000 per annum. If such 
were his extras as a territorial governor, what will they be as President ? At 
the same rate they will amount to upwards of $60,000 per annum, which he 



12 

would have just as good a right to claim as ex-officio commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the United States. Where is the difference ? 

In connexion with this, there was the fact that some of these accounts were 
made out and certified when he was himself Secretary of War ; but, not liking 
to pass his own accounts, he left them for his successor, with the endorsement 
that they were authorized and correct. And yet Gen. Cass was a great econo- 
mist ! He subscribed to the Baltimore maxim that " the people's money must 
be carefully guarded for the people's benefit." But he (Mr. S.) thought the 
General had in this case rather " overstepped the modesty of nature," whatever 
the opinions of others might be. But this was not all that General Cass had 
received. Besides the above, received as Governor of Michigan and ex-officio 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, he was about five years Secretary of War at 
$6,000 per annum, being a total of $30,000. He was subsequently some six 
years minister to St. Cloud at $9,000 per annum, being $54,000, with an out- 
fit of $9,000 and an infit of $4,500— making a total of some $97,500. The 
amount of extra charges during his travels in Europe and to the Holy Land he 
had not yet ascertained ; he presumed they were considerable. Add to these 
sums his per diem and mileage as Senator from Michigan, his pay as an officer 
during the late war with Great Britain, and it would present an aggregate of 
between two and three hundred thousand dollars of the people's money. 
Enough he thought to satisfy any reasonable man ; but it seemed not; he wants 
one or two hundred thousand more as President. Of the private conduct and 
character of Gen. Cass he would say nothing, but his official conduct was a fair 
and legitimate subject of discussion, and he would not shrink from the dis 
charge of his duty, be the consequences to himself what they might. It was 
to the extra charges he wished to call the especial attention of his friends, and 
he would be glad if they could furnish some satisfactory explanation of these 
extraordinary charges, which he feared they could not and would not give. 

He hoped the friends of Gen. Cass would examine these matters, and be able 
to give some explanation of them. The people of this country would expect it 
to be cleared up some how or other, though he believed it would be found that 
there were no vouchers to sustain these extra charges — not the oath of a single 
witness to establish their justice, but they were left to depend mainly if not 
altogether on the statements by Gen. Cass himself, on his own ipse dixit. But 
his hour was fast w r asting away and he must hurry on. 

There was another thing to which he desired to refer. If he had the time 
he would like to refer to the expenditures during the present war with Mexico. 
He, however, had not the time to refer satisfactorily to this wasteful expendi- 
ture of money. There had been much of it squandered amongst Presidential 
partisans and favorites ; some rewarded with high offices, such as Pillow & Co. , 
and others with fat contracts. They had paid for the hire of steamboats alone 
$351,631 a month, and the sum of $115,900 had been paid for old and worth- 
less vessels. But he had not time to refer to these matters in detail, which he 
had before him ; he might put them in his speech should he ever write it out. 
But he must hasten to advert to another thing, which would show how the great 
economists of this Administration spent "the people's money for the people's 
benefit." His attention had been called to the fact that this Government has 
been expending the people's money for the benefit of hundreds of their partisans 
and pets for actually doing nothing ; and in many of the custom-houses in the 
country at this time the receipts were wholly inadequate to the payment of the 
officers who were quartered on the public. For instance, there were fifty 
custom-houses, of which he had made a list, that collected the sum of $74,- 
425.77 ; to collect which an expense was incurred of $361,075.39 over and 
above the entire receipts of the offices — a clear loss to the Treasury of this 
amount to support the party ; making, therefore, an expenditure of $435,501.- 



i: 



16 paid to support custom-houses that paid not one cent into the Treasury. 
There were twenty-one custom-houses whose aggregate receipts were $32,- 
218.39, the whole of which, together with $270,280.28, was paid to a set of 
idle officers ostensibly employed in its collection, but actually doing little or 
nothing ; a gross sum, without any receipts to meet the expenditures, of 
$302,498.67 thrown away on favorites ! There were likewise ten custom- 
houses which collected the sum of $867. 19 only, which cost the Government 
$36,248.32, or $35,381.13 over and above the whole receipts. And that was 
using "the people's monej r for the people's benefit," according to the Balti- 
more resolutions. Oh, say they, you must take care to spend the people's 
money for the people's benefit, and here, as an example, was an expenditure 
of $36,248.32 to collect $867.19 ! If gentlemen had any doubt on this sub- 
ject he had before him a transcript from the official statements, made out by an 
officer of this House, which he would hand to the Reporter ; he had not time 
now to read it. Here is a portion of the list : 

Statement showing the gross amount of revenue collected in the following districts y 
and the excess of expenditure beyond the duties received for the year 1845-'6. 



Districts. 



Gross revenue. 



jExces3 of expen- 
ditures beyond 
receipts. 



Frenchman's Bay. 
Waldoborough . . ■ 

Kennebunk 

Saco , 

York 

Plymouth , 

Ipswich 

Edgartown 

Barnstable , 

New London 

Stonington 

Osweg^tchie 

Cape Vincent 

Presque Isle 

Delaware 

St. Mary's 

Yeocomico 

Tappahannock. • . , 

Ocracoke , 

Beaufort, S. C. . . , 

Brunswick 

St. Mary's 

St. Augustine.. . . , 

St. Mark's 

St. John's 

Pearl River 

Vicksburg , 

Miami 



$415 33 


|14,506 46 


2,145 79 


18,798 05 


592 33 


2;740 18 


191 87 


1,810 85 


323 74 


1,166 99 


1,825 14 


25,716 02 


Nothing. 


124 87 


298 15 


2,303 21 


2,845 63 


44,819 77 


614 25 


11,946 03 


351 48 


2,269 81 


385 71 


2,399 67 


779 40 


3,426 18 


312 66 


8,996 97 


1,591 42 


22,447 63 


2 82 


159 68 


157 79 


331 21 


132 06 


1,684 54 


56 27 


2,034 25 


7 00 


243 00 


1 36 


110 32 


75 38 


4,078 56 


160 70 


1,686 12 


195 01 


6,157 67 


50 02 


3,955 43 


197 35 


351 03 


30 71 


480 29 


48 84 


1,289 32 



$13,788 21 



$185,034 11 



Old Zack, he trusted, would soon make this list of drones and cormorants 
"small by degrees, and beautifully less;" for, if there was any one trait in his 
character more strongly developed than any other, it was his love of economy^ 
and his abhorrence of every thing like extravagance and wasteful expenditure, 
and especially of the public money. In matters of this kind he understood he 
was peculiarly rigid and exact; and it is now, in these times of profligacy and 
wanton waste, that the country and the tax-paying people want such an honest 
and faithful man as General Taylor to muster and inspect the crew, dismiss the 
idle and useless, put "the ship to rights," get it fairly before the wind, and 
with a noble crew, and well selected subordinates, our noble ship of State would 



14 

soon surmount every obstacle, and be once more safely moored in the haven of 
peace and prosperity. 

The Baltimore Convention speak, in their resolutions, with great exultation 
of their Mexican war and their Mexican peace. And what have we got by the 
one or by the other? This war has thrown this country back full half a cen- 
tury. Look at its demoralizing effects; look what it has cost in blood and trea- 
sure. And, for all this, what have we got? Nothing; I fear worse than no- 
thing. Sir, the pecuniary cost of this war, and this was by no means its great- 
est cost, would not fall short — past, present, and prospective — of some two or 
three hundred millions of dollars. 

Cost already incurred, say #100,000,000 

Land bounties 15,000,000 

Ansount paid Mexico, debt and money 20,000,000 

Addition to pension list, two millions for twenty-five years 50,000,000 

Standing army to defend the northern frontier of Mexico, and maintaining our 

new possessions there, five millions per year for ten years 50,000,000 

Increase of army, navy, &c, at home, five millions per annum, say ten years.. . 50,000,000 

Incidental expenses, damages, losses, &c, to be provided for hereafter, say 10,000,000 

$295,000,000 

What would this not have accomplished, had it been expended for the im- 
provement of our country? What countless benefits and blessings, instead of 
curses and calamities, would it not have conferred upon the American people? 
They are more easily conceived than described; he would not, in his brief hour, 
attempt it — he would leave every one to make the calculation for himself. 

To the above add the loss of time and labor to the country of fifty thousand 
volunteers for two years, and the loss to families, and to the country, of fifteen 
or twenty thousand valuable lives. And, he repeated, for all this what have 
we gained? New Mexico and California, which will cost us every year, to 
maintain and defend, as much as it is worth. And where is our promised 
"indemnity for the past and security for the future?" Indemnity! We have 
none, not a cent for all our losses; but Mexico has received "indemnity for the 
past," by a release of the five millions of debt which Mr. Polk made the war 
to recover, and fifteen millions in cash; and as to "security for the future," we 
have none. But what has Mexico? She has security for the future. We are 
bound to protect her northern frontier against the hostile and predatory incur- 
sions of the Indians of California, now ours, heretofore a source of so much an- 
noyance, expense, and suffering to her people. From these calamities she is 
to be hereafter protected, not by her own, but by American armies; so that, in 
point of fact, Mexico, and not Mr. Polk, has got all the "indemnity for the 
past and security for the future." 

Such are the benefits of our war, and the blessings of our peace, of which 
we hear so much boasting on the other side of the House. Sir, but. for the 
madness and folly of this Administration, all Ave have got could have been ob- 
tained, by wise counsels and amicable negotiation, for some fifteen or twenty 
millions. Who can doubt it? But, no; nothing but war and bloodshed would 
satisfy the President; he would "cavil on the ninth part of a hair;" he would 
not consent to change the title of our negotiator sent to Mexico, (Mr. Slidell,) 
from "minister plenipotentiary" to "commissioner," which was all that was 
required to secure his recognition by Mexico, and the opening of negotiations 
for peace. Rather than comply with this reasonable request, he instantly or- 
dered Gen. Taylor to march to the Rio Grande, and thus commenced the war with- 
out consulting Congress, then in session; thereby fixing on Polk and his party the 
responsibility — the fearful responsibility — of this war, and all its consequences. 

But there was another grave objection he had to the policy of this Adminis- 
tration. Our Government, as now administered, has, in effect, become a 
foreign Government. We could now do every thing abroad, and nothing at 



15 

home. The American people were taxed ior the benefit of foreigners. The 
millions raised to carry on this war had been expended for the most part in a 
foreign country. Internal improvements were unconstitutional at home, but 
not abroad; we could survey and of course improve the Dead Sea; we could 
make roads and canals across the isthmus of Panama and Tehuantepec. If 
Ave want goods they must come from abroad. American hats, shoes, and coats 
were not good enough for this Administration; they reduced the duties and 
brought them from abroad. A proposition was actually made by his colleague, 
(Mr. C. J. Ingersoll,) and sustained by his party, a few days ago ? to take 
half the present reduced duties off the rich man's luxuries, jewelry, silks, 
laces, lawns, gewgaws, and every thing of the kind, and off iron, coal,' cloth, 
hats, shoes, and every species of manufacture, reducing them from 30 to 15 
per cent., and reducing, of course, the revenue one-half, expressly to favor 
foreigners, who were represented by his colleague to be in a suffering condi- 
tion, (no matter about Americans;) and then, to make up for loss of revenue, 
it was proposed to put a duty of twenty-five per cent, on the poor man's tea 
and coffee. Such is their love of the dear poor people — perfectly in character 
Avith all the rest — preaching one thing, and practising the opposite. 

Thus, sir, every thing done by these "progressives" inure to the benefit of 
foreigners. Our money is sent in ship loads abroad; our improvements are 
foreign; our goods are foreign; our army and our navy are employed abroad. 
Every thing is foreign, foreign; nothing American. No power to protect or 
benefit our own people, or improve our own country. The power to contract debts, 
to tax and oppress the people, were the only legitimate powers of Government 
as now administered. Was this not true to the letter? Would the people 
longer submit to this state of things? The power and the remedy was in their 
own hands, and they would apply it, by elevating that, honest, true-hearted 
American, General Taylor, to the Presidency, who would soon correct these 
ureign and anti-American tendencies, and bring the country back to the good 
old revolutionary principles, and the true American policy of the earlier and 
better days of the Republic. 

The Baltimore platform had a great many things in it to which his brief re- 
maining time would not permit him even to allude. He saw, amongst other 
things, they had a resolution in which they repeated the President's charge 
that the Whigs gave "aid and comfort to the enemy." Now, he would like 
to know what sort of "aid and comfort" old Zack gave to the enemy? Mr. 
Polk sent Santa Anna to give them aid and comfort; while, instead of aid, 
General Taylor gave them "a little more grape and canister." He wished the 
gentlemen opposite to make the most of the "aid and comfort" humbug; old 
Zack had spiked that cannon, or rather had turned it upon their own ranks, 
now flying like the Mexicans before him. 

In the next place, they go in for a sound currency; and yet the party, after 
the destruction of the United States Bank, had established six or seven hun- 
dred State Banks. This has been done by Democratic Legislatures in Demo- 
cratic States. He had a list of these banks, showing where, when, and by 
whom incorporated, but had not time to introduce them now; he might do it 
on some other occasion; this, how r ever, was perfectly consistent with all they 
did. They make an outcry against bank paper, and they fill the country with 
illegitimate paper money, issued in violation of the Constitution, which ex- 
pressly declared that no State should "issue bills of credit;" and of course they 
could not authorize others to do what the States themselves were not author- 
ized to do. This provision, Mr. Madison (in the Federalist) says, was in- 
serted for the very purpose of preventing the States from issuing or authoriz- 
ing the issue of "paper money." He (Mr. S.) was not a bank man. We had 
too many banks. He was opposed to a United States Bank, though he had 



16 !! ! Ill Iflir 

once voted for it in obedience to the unan B „„„ _?T.7.. _ - 5-JLratic 
Pennsylvania Legislature, and when every Democratic member from Pennsyl- 
vania in this House but one voted in favor of this same United States Bank, 
now regarded with such "holy horror" by these gentlemen. 

Next, the Baltimore platform declares that the present Administration had 
given "a noble impulse to free trade," by repealing the tariff of 1842 and es- 
tablishing that of 1846. This was announced as the crowning merit and glory 
of Mr. Polk's Administration. It was too late to enter upon that subject, for 
his time was almost expired; but he would merely observe, that their system 
had been so successful as to produce a balance of "perhaps some forty millions 
against the country. Specie was, in consequence, going out of the country at 
the rate of three millions a month from the port of New York alone, and goods 
were coming in by millions; and he would tell them, while their imports are 
vastly increased under the tariff of 1846, that their exports were falling, greatly 
falling off. The exports of breadstuff's will not be one-tenth part of what they 
were last year, Mr. Walker's predictions to the contrary notwithstanding;, 
and, judging from what he saw in the last Union, they would become less than 
that. The "Union" of yesterday states the exports to Great Britain of flour 
last year at 2,269,114 barrels, this year 1.59,191; wheat last year 2,157,448 
bushels, this year 215,139, and so on; and yet gentlemen talked of evidence 
of the worth of their system. Where was it, and what was it? A crisis is 
approaching; it will soon be upon us. The result of such a system would be 
such as they had in 1840; it will crush the banks, the people, and the country — 
producing the scenes and sufferings of 1840, which can neither be forgotten 
nor averted. The famine and the revolutions in Europe have postponed this 
crisis; the expenses of the war had also helped; but the crisis is coming, and 
must come. While exports are falling off they boast of increased imports and 
increasing revenue under low duties — thus boasting of that which must bring 
inevitable ruin. You have taken off one-third of the duties by the tariff of 
1846; of course, to get the same amount of revenue, you must increase your 
imports one-third, say fifty millions, and send fifty millions of dollars out of the 
country to pay for them; and, what is still worse, you must destroy fifty mil- 
lions of your present home supply of manufactures to make room for the addi- 
tional fifty millions brought from abroad; hence, it is manifest, that for fifty 
millions of money sent abroad to enrich foreigners at the expense of Ameri- 
cans, we get — not even one cent of additional revenue. Who, then, is 
benefitted? Foreigners — they gain fifty millions of our money, and Americans 
lose it. But, if we are getting more revenue, as is alleged, so much the worse; this 
can only be by increasing the mischief — increasing our imports of goods and ex- 
ports of money. To increase the revenue under reduced duties, he insisted, was 
but to hasten the crisis, and aggravate the ruin and disasters that must follow. 

The Baltimore Convention next boasted of this glorious war yrith Mexico. 
They were welcome to all its glories, with all its responsibilities. The policy 
of the Whigs was peace, and not war. The policy of the Whigs, too, was 
economy, and not extravagance; and if Gen. Taylor, that faithful and true pa- 
triot, should come into power — which no man could doubt — if, he repeated. 
Gen. Taylor should come into power — a man into whose face, we are told by 
Generals Smith and Twiggs, no man could look and make a dishonorable propo- 
sition — he would bring back the policy of government to what it was in the early 
days ol the Republic, when Washington, Jefferson, and Madison presided over 
its destinies. Taylor, this second Washington, would bring back this Govern- 
ment to the purer principles and better policy of the first. Thank God that 
period is approaching; it is at hand; already its approach is heralded by 

Here the Chairman's hammer announced the expiration of Mr. S's hour, 
and he took his seat. 



*y 



